Clearly defined demands are required of keyboards of the type noted above. It must be possible to operate them easily and safely since they are the interface between man and machine. They must be dependable so that no input commands are lost. They also must be inexpensive and suitable for automatic production to the extent possible.
Known keyboards have not been able to meet all of these requirements. They either consist of so many components that they are cumbersome to make and assemble or they do not fulfill the requirement of easy operation. The former is the case in a keyboard known from German Laid-open Application No. DE-OS 32 25 696. With that keyboard it is additionally required to attach electrically conductive clamps on resilient bars of an insulating material. A keyboard with individual keys of the type described in German Pat. No. DE-PS 30 45 354 is not easy to operate because it does not feel comfortable. The type of key described in this patent is more suitable as a single key and not as a key in a keyboard such as required, for example, in a typewriter.